Question: Your character flirted with the dark side a bit in Season 2. Was that fun for you?

Sendhil Ramamurthy: Yeah, absolutely. I kind of thought I got the darkness out of me until I found out what they were doing for me this season. It's kind of deeply dark and twisted and completely messed up. I love it. It's fantastic. It's really, really dark in a comic book sense. It's very comic book like.

Q: So the title "Villains" is not only about new characters, but exploring the darkness inside those we already know?

Ramamurthy: It is. Yeah, it's exploring the good and the bad in everybody. A lot of the characters I think are kind of turned on their heads. They will still fundamentally be the same people that you know, but they will be in certain circumstances that cause them to behave differently than they have before.

Q: Even Sylar?

Ramamurthy: Everybody. Everybody, in some way. And a lot of them will not be ways that are very linear. You're not expecting them, which is what makes good television.

Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh in Heroes

Q: What was it like having such a long break, thanks to the writers' strike?

Ramamurthy: As an actor, I could have done with a three week break. I didn't necessarily need it to be this long, but I think ultimately, to be honest, it was very good for the show. The writers went back and were kind of reenergized and had re-tooled, and I knew they'd come up with something really extraordinary. Something that will equal or hopefully surpass the first season.

Q: Do you think your character will finally get a superpower?

Ramamurthy: Listen, anything is possible on this show. This character's always been on the outside looking in at these characters and their abilities and trying to help them. It's ultimately proved to be kind of fruitless endeavor. He keeps coming at it from different angles and he can't quite find a way in to help these people. And this season he does – he finds a way in. But it has severe consequences. The way that he goes about things and the changes that he endures, because of how he does this. It's kind of like this journey through this whole season so far. He will have to deal with the repercussions of his actions and it's the most challenging thing I've ever done and it's the most fun I've ever had.

Q: Who have you worked with this season?

Ramamurthy: I have so far worked with Dania Ramirez, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Robert Forster, who's joining the show… I'm sure there's more, but I'm spacing out a little bit.

Q: I liked the Chinatown thing you had going last season, with the bandaged up nose.

Ramamurthy: Did you really?

Q: Yeah, it was a fun little touch.

Ramamurthy: I was into it, except that it took like 45 minutes to put the makeup on and everything.

Q: When does Season 3 pick up in the timeline?

Ramamurthy: It picks up seconds after Nathan Petrelli gets shot in the second season. It's directly after.

Q: How is it having an action figure?

Ramamurthy: You know what? It's pretty cool. It's pretty damn cool. Who doesn't want an action figure? My daughter runs around with it. She wants to take it to school and I have to explain to her that the other daddies don't have action figures and the kids will get jealous. It's definitely good for the daddy ego, for sure.

Heroes: Season 3 premieres Monday, September 22nd on NBC with a special three-hour event, beginning at 8:00pm ET/PT.